Northern Rail stopping patterns from Liverpool Lime Street

[HJ10001]

I've that out of all the Northern services in/out of Liverpool Lime Street, the services on the main Liverpool to Manchester route call at all stations, these services are:

• Wigan North Western (Via St Helens Central)
• Manchester Airport
• Manchester Victoria (Evening)
• Warrington Bank Quay (Evening)
• Ellesmere Port (Via Helsby and Warrington Bank Quay) (Early morning - late evening)

The exception is the Blackpool North, which only calls at Huyton and St Helens Central.

The Northern services on the former CLC line to Manchester via Warrington Central seem only call at selected stations! The stations that seem to get the most services are: Liverpool South Parkway, Hough Green, Warrington Central, Birchwood, Irlam and Flixton.

 

[jfollows]

Northern used to run a semi-fast DMU to Manchester Victoria, which turned into a service to Manchester Airport via Chat Moss, which became a semi-fast EMU once electrified. It turned into a stopper to Crewe via Manchester Airport in 2018.

 

[Farigiraf]

It's partly to do with the fact that TPE and EMR already run fast/semifast services between Liverpool and nearby large towns and cities, so Northern can afford to provide some of the smaller stations more service.
Did the Blackpool fasts / TPE Liverpool - Glasgows ever go via Newton le Willows and Golborne?

 

[Kite159]

Do they still run anything towards Warrington Bank Quay from the Liverpool direction, I know in the days before Covid it used to be an hourly service to Warrington Bank Quay giving the stations like St Helens Junction 2tph, likewise isn't Ellesmere Port solely a daily (when it runs) service into Liverpool, the morning train starting from Helsby.

As for the Warrington Central services, those services have always been a mixed bag of stoppers, even when there was 2tph to Oxford Road. It's a 2 track section of railway between Deansgate & South Parkway (with a loop at Glazebrook for Liverpool services) which easily breaks when EMR (or TPE) run late, delaying the departure of the stopper so the following semi-fast train catches up with it before it reached South Parkway.

@jfollows didn't the path of the former Liverpool - Manchester Airport semi-fast EMU service get taken by TPE when they increased the number of services they ran towards Liverpool from Manchester Victoria? The same time the destination of the Chat Moss stopper changing from Victoria to Crewe?

 

[jfollows]

@jfollows didn't the path of the former Liverpool - Manchester Airport semi-fast EMU service get taken by TPE when they increased the number of services they ran towards Liverpool from Manchester Victoria? The same time the destination of the Chat Moss stopper changing from Victoria to Crewe?

I’m sure you’re right.
I remember the original service which must have been pre-2008 because I used it when I lived in Manchester and took it from Manchester Victoria to the new Wavertree Technology Park station which was close to United Biscuits who were an IBM customer at the time. They may well still be there and still an IBM customer, but I’m not sure of either! A nice Northern 158 which was never too busy.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Dec 2024 ==

Do they still run anything towards Warrington Bank Quay from the Liverpool direction, I know in the days before Covid it used to be an hourly service to Warrington Bank Quay giving the stations like St Helens Junction 2tph, likewise isn't Ellesmere Port solely a daily (when it runs) service into Liverpool, the morning train starting from Helsby.

My understanding is that they don’t and they won’t, the Bank Quay service is no more.

 

[Kite159]

Pretty sure that Northern semi-fast also called at St Helens Junction as well as Wavertree. Can't recall the calling pattern after St Helens Junction if it called at both Earlestown & Newton-Le-Willows on the way towards Manchester Airport.

 

[mcnw35282]

The former semi fast Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport called only at Wavertree Technology Park, St Helens Junction, Newton le Willows, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.

1 train per hour from St Helens Junction to Liverpool is an absolute joke. We were expecting Northern to get better when Arriva lost the contract...

 

[childwallblues]

The services provided by TPE over from Liverpool Lime Street over Chat Moss increase from one to two per hour from the 16th. The service to Newcastle operated be Class 802 units and calls at Newton-le-Willows whilst the service to Hull will call at Lea Green using a mix of Class 185 and 802 units.
Stations at Whiston, Rainhill, St Helens Junction and Patricroft are served only by the Lime Street all stations service although there is an additional all stations service in the morning and evening peaks from Lime Street to Manchester Victoria.
I have yet to see any confirmation of service changes for May 2025 yet but have been informed that there may be a second stopping service from Lime Street running to Stalybridge thus restoring the link broken when Chat Moss was electrified in 2015.

 

[Llandudno]

The services provided by TPE over from Liverpool Lime Street over Chat Moss increase from one to two per hour from the 16th. The service to Newcastle operated be Class 802 units and calls at Newton-le-Willows whilst the service to Hull will call at Lea Green using a mix of Class 185 and 502 units.
Stations at Whiston, Rainhill, St Helens Junction and Patricroft are served only by the Lime Street all stations service although there is an additional all stations service in the morning and evening peaks from Lime Street to Manchester Victoria.
I have yet to see any confirmation of service changes for May 2025 yet but have been informed that there may be a second stopping service from Lime Street running to Stalybridge thus restoring the link broken when Chat Moss was electrified in 2015.

I can’t see Northern running any additional services from May 2025 (or 2026 for that matter) as they seem unable to to recruit enough staff to run the current timetable…!

 

[Bovverboy]

Stations at Whiston, Rainhill, St Helens Junction and Patricroft are served only by the Lime Street all stations service although there is an additional all stations service in the morning and evening peaks from Lime Street to Manchester Victoria.

Whiston, Rainhill and St Helens Junction are also served by the 1831 Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western, and Rainhill and St Helens Junction by the 0924 Wigan North Western to Liverpool Lime Street and 1542 Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western.
Patricroft is served by the Victoria stopper AM towards Manchester and PM towards Liverpool, but not AM towards Liverpool or PM towards Manchester.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Dec 2024 ==

The services provided by TPE over from Liverpool Lime Street over Chat Moss increase from one to two per hour from the 16th. The service to Newcastle operated be Class 802 units and calls at Newton-le-Willows whilst the service to Hull will call at Lea Green using a mix of Class 185 and 502 units.

Need to lay some third rail first!